Mustangs girls make history with a perfect season

M’CHIGEENG—The Manitoulin Secondary School
(MSS) Mustangs girls’ hockey team has made Island history—last week, they
played their final game of the season against Espanola and finished with a 6-0
win. For them, 2019 was not simply a good year.

It was a perfect season.

“They tried to act real cool, but I hope
and think they understand what they accomplished was something special. It’s
never happened before, and I think it’s really important to say that we’ve had
some really good teams in the past,” said coach Mike Meeker.

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Regular readers of The Expositor’s sports
pages will have noted the girls’ team’s runaway season as it unfolded. The only
times they fell to any opponents were a few games outside of their regular
season at a London tournament.

“I raved on about the game they played
against St. Mary’s at London. That was an exceptional team, a top-level
Division 1 team like we have here. The girls played the gameplan perfectly and
lost 1-0, but they could have easily tied or won that game because they missed
a couple chances,” Mr. Meeker said.

Some have raised concerns that the division
is weaker this year and that has given the Mustangs girls an easier time at
domination. However, Mr. Meeker said that statement is not a good reflection of
the effort the girls put into the season.

“Espanola is a good team. They’re a strong
team,” he said. “This year, (the girls) played so well that they made a good
team look weak.”

Mr. Meeker recognized that one of
Espanola’s greatest strengths is its excellent goaltender, and said he managed
to adjust the girls’ gameplan accordingly.

“We practiced cross-net passing, one-timers
from the side and getting in front of the goalie. If you can’t see the puck,
it’s hard to stop no matter how good you are. Our first goal was a perfect
example of that strategy, Hailey (McGillis-Prior) got in front of the net and
blocked the view, and we had a perfect deflection into the net,” Mr. Meeker
said.

He added that they adjusted their defence
as well based on the strong Espanola players who could run the puck down the
length of the rink.

“Our defence stayed together and stayed
back, forced their players to go wide and put them at a disadvantage. They had
bad angles for their shots,” said Mr. Meeker.

At the beginning of this week, the girls
headed to Toronto to play in a tournament. When The Expositor spoke with Mr.
Meeker last week before the trip, he said the girls would likely be looking
forward to the games equally as much as they’d enjoy shopping and hanging out
in the Big Smoke.

“I think they’re going to stack up really
well. That’s another positive about this team. The better the team we’re
playing, the better they play generally. They step up their game,” Mr. Meeker
said.

At the end of February, the girls will be
starting the league playoffs. The games are structured so the first-place team
plays the fourth-place team and the second- and third-place teams square off in
the first round. However, the fourth-place team, Lively, has dropped out of the
playoffs. In second and third are St. Benedict’s and Espanola respectively.

“I have no idea who will win between
Espanola and St. Ben’s. That’s going to be a good series. They’ve both got good
teams and great players, but Espanola has an above-average goalie,” Mr. Meeker
said. “Whoever it is, they’re going to be a tough challenge and the girls know
that.

The Mustangs girls will face the winner of
that series in a best-two-of-three series to determine the division champions.

The boys’ team had an exciting end to their
season. Their final game was last Wednesday night against Lockerby at
Countryside Arena.

“It was a back-and-forth game. We had a 6-5
lead late in the game, but one of the boys took a four-minute penalty and
Lockerby scored twice and beat us 7-6. Ethan Corbiere got four goals in a
losing effort,” said coach Steve Doane.

The boys’ playoff series begins sooner than
the girls’ team, with their first game being once again against Lockerby. The
Mustangs ended up in second place in the B division after the regular season.

“I’m not too sure what to expect from this
team as we head into the playoffs. The second half of the season has been very
disjointed and we only managed to have one practice in the last month with
exams and all of the snow days,” said Mr. Doane.

He added that the boys have had to pick up
the missed practice opportunities on their own to keep their skills sharp. Mr.
Doane said he hoped to get a practice in for this week.

“I think the playoffs should be fairly
entertaining, but the series are only best two out of three so there isn’t much
room for a slow start. (Lockerby) has played us closely all season and were
able to beat us in the last game, so they are coming in with some
confidence. They have a fairly balanced
attack and were very physical with us last time,” said Mr. Doane.

For him, consistency throughout the whole
game will be the way the boys’ team can find success. A small misstep like
losing focus for a minute or taking a selfish penalty could have major impacts
in a tight series.

However, he said his team has a lot of
support between the pipes which will considerably help them.

“Jenelle Manitowabi will be carrying the
load in goal at least early on, with Shannon Debassige out with an injury. Our
goaltending has been solid all season,” he said.

He said the team will have to pay close
attention to the two-on-one pushes that have cost the team a lot this year, as
well as making defence a whole-team effort.

“If we can keep the puck out of our net,
the goals will come and we should be in good shape,” said Mr. Doane.

“I’m looking forward to the crowd and the
atmosphere for the first game on Thursday in Little Current. It should be an
exciting game!”

The Mustangs boys’ team’s first game is
against Lockerby tomorrow, Thursday February 14, at 5:30 pm in the Little
Current-Howland Recreation Centre.